Sligo Rovers 2

Galway United 1

Jessica Farry reports from The Showgrounds

FRANCELY LOMBOTO NETTED against his former side to earn Sligo Rovers a huge three points in a drama-filled Connacht derby at The Showgrounds on Monday night.

Both sides finished the game with 10 men after John Mahon and Moses Dyer were sent off after a clash involving both sides when Mahon had tackled Dyer.

Sligo went in at half-time leading, with Galway pulling one back early in the second half.
Lomboto’s fourth of the season, on the night his brother earned a win for Finn Harps, proved to be the winner in the end.

Both sides have already beaten one another this season, with Galway ending a 29 year wait for a Showgrounds league win back in April when John Caulfield’s side were 2-1 winners.

John Russell made two changes from Friday’s defeat to Drogheda, with Kyle McDonagh making a first senior start.

John Caulfield named an unchanged 11 from the side that beat St Patrick’s Athletic on Friday night, with Galway travelling to The Showgrounds unbeaten in their last four league games.

Galway were first to threaten, with Bohemians loanee Cian Byrne forcing a save from Sargeant in the Sligo goals from a free-kick after ten minutes.

Despite a bright start, the game did hit a bit of a lull, with neither goalkeeper too busy early in. But this tie sprung into action just before half-time.

The visitors should have taken the lead after Sargeant’s short pass allowed Galway to get numbers forward. Galway had a couple of efforts cleared off the line before a brilliant Sargeant save somehow kept the ball out of the net.

Sligo went down the other end and took the lead with a fantastic goal. Rob Slevin misjudged the bounce of the ball, with Owen Elding well placed to pick out Jad Hakiki with a superb pass, and Hakiki followed it up with an excellent finish on his birthday to put Sligo ahead.

The former Dundalk man almost added a second moments later, but Slevin did enough to take the sting out of the shot. Galway responded well in the second-half, and found an equaliser early when Byrne’s free-kick was nodded in by Dyer with his tenth of the season.

There was plenty of drama to come, though, as both sides went down to ten after John Mahon and Dyer clashed, with referee Neil Doyle brandishing two straight reds. Byrne almost found a second for Galway, but it was the hosts who went ahead when Lomboto backheeled into the net after another goalmouth scramble, with two efforts somehow kept out prior to his goal.

Galway threw everything at Sligo, and three goal-line clearances from Hutchinson kept Sligo ahead, with John Caulfield wondering how his side came away with nothing.

Sligo Rovers: Sam Sargeant; Kyle McDonagh (Oskar Van Hattum 64), John Mahon, Conor Reynolds (Daire Patton 85), Reece Hutchinson; Matty Wolfe (Ollie Denham 64), Jake Doyle-Hayes; Will Fitzgerald, Jad Hakiki (Stephen Mallon 85), Owen Elding; Wilson Waweru (Francely Lomboto 64).

Galway United: Evan Watts; Jeannot Esua, Rob Slevin, Garry Buckley, Greg Cunningham (Bobby Burns HT); Vincent Borden (Conor McCormack HT), Cian Byrne (Stephen Walsh 83); David Hurley (Killan Brouder 74), Ed McCarthy (Malcolm Shaw 74); Pat Hickey, Moses Dyer.

Referee: Neil Doyle.